


march on

by rxginamills



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 06:38:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14396415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rxginamills/pseuds/rxginamills
Summary: Ron and Hermione have trouble in paradise in their marriage and Hermione has a surprise in store.





	march on

It's raining. It's cold. It's windy. Leaves blow in your face, your toes tingle at the touch of the cold floor, your hands ache from all the writing...

It's a miserable day, really, and Hermione knows it.

For the whole day she's been sitting in the living room, giving herself cramps by writing too much and too fast. She's _drowning_ in work from the Ministry. And don't forget about the back pains she's been having lately.

Ron is not much better. He gets home late every night due to his own job. The landlord is not easy on them, and it's getting hard to pay the rent for their apartment. Both Ron and Hermione have been cranky and tired and it's not good for them in any way.

"Hey," Ron says as he enters the house after a long day, his hair messy and clothes worn out. Hermione doesn't answer him.

"I said hey! Are you listening?" Ron goes closer to Hermione, who turns to him abrubtly.

"Okay, fine then! _Hey_! Are you happy now?" she snaps and goes back to her paperwork. Ron is taken aback at this.

"What's gone into you?" he asks.

"Work. Now can you please leave me alone for a while, I need to finish these. My boss will _kill_ me if they're not ready for tomorrow," Hermione explains. Ron sighs.

"We hardly have any time for each other anymore, it almost feels like you're neglecting me — "

"Ronald Weasley, get your arse away from this kitchen _right now_ and let me work or I will show you what neglecting is actually like!" Hermione looks at him threateningly. Ron has never seen her like that. Her eyes are fierce and full of anger, they remind him of a cat's cunning eyes. Hermione is gripping her wand tightly. The ink and parchment on the table are dangerously close to being thrown away.

"Reducto!" Ron suddenly says and points at the bottle of ink. It explodes, splattering the ink over all of Hermione's papers and clothes. Her eyes widen.

"RONALD! How could you do that?! It's going to take me hours to redo those!" Hermione gets up from her place and faces Ron. Her bloodshot and tired eyes and purple bags under them make her look dangerous.

"You never take time for the two of us!"

"You're not a baby, Ron! That was childish and stupid! Do you have any idea how important these papers were to me? We have enough trouble trying to pay the rent, our relationship is clearly on the rocks and _now.._."

Ron sees the tears in Hermione's eyes and feels guilt for what he just did. He tries to approach Hermione.

"Hermione, I — I'm sorry, I — "

"No!" Hermione exclaims in tears, pointing the tip of her wand at Ron's throat. He freezes to his place. Hermione is hurt.

"Leave."

Ron is startled, "Wha — leave? Where would I go?"

"You can figure that out for yourself since you were so clever and ruined all of my work," Hermione says with an ice cold voice. Ron frowns, inspecting her face closer.

"This is not just about your work, is it? Otherwise the situation wouldn't be this serious — you're cheating on me!" Ron exclaims.

"What?! That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! I would never cheat on you, you know that!" Hermione insists.

"You're lying," Ron yells.

"You're mad," Hermione cries, "Why would you ever accuse me of such things, Ron? I'm drowning in actual, _serious_ work while you come home tired after working in a bloody joke shop!"

"Hey! Watch yourself, that joke shop is important to me! It belonged to Fred also!" Ron exclaims.

"That doesn't matter! Fred is de — "

"REDUCTO!"

Ron sends Hermione flying at the opposite wall. She gets up and gathers herself, looking at Ron with fiery eyes. She feels insane regret and guilt for saying those words, but at the moment they're covered by anger.

Ron is also livid. He loves Hermione with everything he has, but this is the last straw. No one, not even his wife, can ever bring up Fred's tragic death in an insulting way.

"Incendio!" Hermione then tries to set Ron's pants on fire.

"Reducto!" she misses Ron by a few inches.

"Reducto! Expelliarmus! Bombarda! Incendio!"

Hermione tries to hit Ron until he runs out of the house and into the pouring rain. Before Hermione closes the door, she hears a clittering sound. Ron's wedding ring is thrown on the floor roughly. It rolls around a few times before it's completely still. Hermione slams the door shut.

Then she cries. She cries a lot.

She slides down against the wall like people do in those overdramatic muggle movies and wraps her arms around herself. Ron's ring is on the floor next to her. A stupid argument over stupid things had led to this.

Hermione is not a weak woman, no, but right now she's feeling quite shattered.

Ron, on the other hand, has not yet felt the pain Hermione has. He's blinded by his anger at her. Ron decides to head to the one place he knows he's always welcome; Harry's.

Ron is soaking wet when he gets to the Potter house. He knocks on the door tiredly. A few seconds later, a flash of red hair much like his appears in the doorway.

"Ron?"

It's his sister, Ginny. She looks confused and shocked.

"Hi, Gin,"

"What happened to you? Come inside," Ginny pulls Ron inside and goes to get him dry clothes.

"Harry! Harry, your best friend's in our living room and he's like a living tidal wave!" she exclaims as she goes through their closets and cupboards.

"What? Don't be foolish, Ginny! You'd think I'd know if Ron Weasley himself was in my house — _oh_. Hi Ron," Harry stops as he walks to the living room and sees Ron there. Both of them have aged a little since the Battle of Hogwarts, but nothing between them has changed. Harry goes to give Ron a hug, ignoring the fact that he is now almost as wet as the redhead.

"So what's happening?" Harry asks, "Obviously something's not right."

"I fought with Hermione. It was pretty bad," Ron admits, "As you can see."

He shows Harry and Ginny his hand which no longer has a ring. Ginny gasps and lifts her hand to her mouth.

"Mate..." Harry starts in shock.

"You — you didn't — _did you_? Did you, you know, break up — " Ginny stutters.

"Of course not!" Ron hisses, "I love that nutjob with everything I have. I was angry."

"So you fought with Hermione and threw away your wedding ring — it seems you've _lost_ this one, Ron," Harry says. Ginny swats his arm lightly.

"Of course he lost. She's Hermione Granger. You can't win  _Hermione Granger_ ," she explains. Ron rolls his eyes.

"You think I don't know that? She's my wife! And I need to apologize to her," he says.

"That's true. But first you need to change into dry clothes," Ginny says, ushering him into the bathroom. Soon he emerges in dry clothes — Harry's clothes, actually. Ron already looks better.

"Is there any chance I could stay here for the night? I don't think Hermione wants me sleeping with her tonight," Ron scratches the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Yes, of course you can! You have a home here, Ron. You and Hermione both," Ginny says, "Harry will make you a bed to the guestroom. Won't you, Harry?" she gives her husband a sharp look. He snaps out of his thoughts.

"Oh, of course! Right away!" he hurries upstairs towards the guestroom, but while going he mouths 'I can't argue with the woman' to Ron.

"You have a hold on him, don't you?" Ron smirks at his sister.

"A tight one. Now get some sleep. I'm sure you and Hermione can solve your problems together, starting tomorrow." she kisses Ron's cheek and he goes up to the guestroom, leaving Ginny to shake her head. Quite a brother she has.

Meanwhile Hermione has gotten up from the floor and gone back to the kitchen. Her papers are still ruined and her clothes are stained with ink.

_Damn it, Ron! Why did you have to be so stupid? Why did I have to be so stupid?_

Well, to be honest, Hermione is to be blamed just as much. She and Ron both have not been in the best mood recently. They argued due to their crankiness.

"I love you Ron," Hermione rolls her wedding ring around in her finger, "but now I have to get things done."

With a sad smile she gets back to her seat and starts to redo her papers. It takes her all night, but it's worth it. The smile on her boss' face tells her that she's done a good job. She's Hermione _freaking_ Granger, she can fix herself, she can fix everything with Ron and she _can_ do this —

And just as she thinks about him, Ron bursts in through the front door. He stops right at the doorway, unsure if Hermione still wants to use countless spells on him.

"You came back." Hermione says quietly. Ron's eyes soften.

"Of course I came back. You're my wife and I love you," he explains.

"Even after I tried to burn your arse with an Incendio spell?" Hermione chuckles sadly.

"Even then." Ron says and takes a step forward. Hermione wraps her arms around herself unsurely.

"I'm really sorry," Ron then starts, "For bothering you when you were working, for lashing out on you, for ruining your papers, for everything that I've done in our marriage that has made you feel unappreciated. I know the rent is getting hard to pay and I appreciate you so much for doing your absolute best every single day. The fact that you're working so hard at the Ministry is so admirable. You're amazing. I hope you know that."

"Ron, I — " Hermione takes a deep breath, "I'm sorry too. I should've never mocked Fred's death like that, he was a great man and friend. I know you appreciate me and I shouldn't have yelled at you or provoked you. You were doing the right thing: telling me how you feel."

Ron comes a bit closer again and offers Hermione his hand. He can almost touch her, he's _so close_...

"Are we okay?" he asks carefully. Hermione looks at his outstretched hand and then takes it.

"We're okay." she says. Ron smiles in relief and lets out a happy laugh. Then he pulls Hermione into a kiss. She squeals in surprise.

"Oh, wait — " Hermione mumbles between kisses, "I think you want this back."

Hermione shows Ron his wedding ring and slides it back in his finger.

"Thank you," Ron smiles. Then his eyes widen in horror, "Hermione! Your paperwork! I ruined them, didn't I?"

"You did," Hermione grins, "But I redid them overnight. It took me a lot of time and I was exhausted after, but my boss loved them! She was very proud."

"That's my girl," Ron kisses the side of her head, "so what do we do now? We're still in trouble with the rent."

Hermione's eyes light up, "Well...I have a surprise for you."

"Oh no," Ron groans. Hermione laughs and slaps his arm.

"This is a good one. You see..." she takes his hands and places them on her stomach, "I'm pregnant, Ron."

It takes Ron a moment to process what's going on. His wife is pregnant. There is a little, living creature growing in her tummy. It's going to depend on them, it's going to be the light of their lives.

Their _child_.

"Wha — you are? Merlin's beard!" Ron grabs Hermione in his arms and spins her around in the living room. She laughs happily and contently. This is what she's always wanted.

"But now we're in bigger trouble! How — how are we going to feed the baby? With what money? How are we going to get everything we need? The baby stuff? And everything you need for a healthy and easy pregnancy? And — "

"Ron, Ron, shh...calm down," Hermione puts a hand on his mouth, "We're going to march on like we always do. We'll get through this together."

Ron looks into her eyes, "Together?"

Hermione chuckles, "How else?"

 


End file.
